


Rainbow Colored Socks

by RomaNatty



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Retail, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Crush at First Sight, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 06:32:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17038544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomaNatty/pseuds/RomaNatty
Summary: Isabella has a brief but memorable encounter at work, but she has a feeling that she has seen this girl before.





	Rainbow Colored Socks

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally a secret Valentine gift for Tumblr user tojos in 2015. The prompt was "Love at second sight/corny pick-up lines".

Isabella heaved a sigh while her hands worked on refolding clothes. The children’s shirts were incredibly small in her long fingers, but she handled them like a pro. Not that it matters; within five seconds, some parent will walk over and start rummaging in the pile, or a kid would be running around like a maniac and knock it over.

“Fernandez!” She heard the gruff shout of her boss even over the sound of screaming children. Ned walked over and sneered at the messed-up piles of clothes on the table in front of me.

“You’ve been standing here and mulling over this table of clothes for almost half an hour. How about doing some actual work around here, before I put you on register?” He turned on his heel and walked away without letting her get a word in. Isabella had to take a few breaths before she stopped twisting the ‘Mommy’s Big Boy’ t-shirt in her hands.

You wouldn’t think working in a children’s clothing store at a small town mall was a stressful job. At least, Isabella didn’t think so. She loved kids and enjoyed taking care of her baby cousins all the time. Ned recommended the gig to his sister, but since she already had a job in another part of the mall, the information was passed along to Isabella. Of course she took the gig. What better job was there than to work with little children, clothes, and being at the mall all day?

Anything else!

Parents were absolutely horrible. There’s some that let their children do whatever the hell they want. There’s some who are entirely too strict and tend to humiliate their own kids in front of everyone. As for the kids, those come in two forms: sweet angels and spawns of Satan. About 80% of the demon children shop at this store. Also, Ned is an entirely different person. At school, he was a bit of a strong and silent type, even cute. At work, he was the self-proclaimed law, a huge cheapskate, and wasn’t shy about reminding Isabella of either.

Plus, the job is so menial and boring. The entire day consists of folding and refolding and re-refolding. It’s so simple that a caveman could do it, although he’d rather hit himself on the head with a club than do it all day. Isabella doesn’t have that luxury, not if she wanted to get paid. The only thing worse is the register, where you get to deal with the angry moms and dads complaining about things workers such as Isabella have absolutely NO control over and trying to take full advantage of ‘the customer is always right’ to get free or discounted things. It never works; it just ticks everyone off, Ned especially because he could lose money, and results in crying kids. Sometimes, it results in crying Latina workers.

Isabella, who was thanking her lucky stars that her Saturday shift was almost over, heard a female voice behind her.

“Excuse me, can you tell me how much these socks cost?” Isabella turned to find a girl about her age standing behind her, holding up a pair of multi-colored socks with baby animals plastered all over it. Isabella was momentarily stunned, however, by the girl. She had brown hair falling into ringlets onto her shoulders, her eyes the color of honey, and the way she frowned made her look absolutely adorable. It was almost like looking at a real life doll.

What bothered her the most, though, was that she looked almost eerily familiar. But, before she could think about it, the girl snapped her fingers in front of her face.

“Excuse me? Did you hear me?”

“All I heard was the beautiful melody of an angel.” Isabella smiled, trying to play off her zoning out. The girl blinked in surprise and glared at her.

“Could you just please tell me how much these cost? There’s no price tag on it”

“Certainly.” Isabella looked it over and confirmed it did not have a price on it. She took a scanner from the wall beside her and scanned the bar code. “They’re $7.55, but I believe that anything from the sock bins are about 30% off today.”

“Cool. Thank you.” She was about to take them back before Isabella blurted out

“I can ring these up for you if you’d like”

“Oh. Sure, thank you” The girl nodded, just as surprised as Isabella was for saying that. Isabella led the girl to an empty register and scanned the socks, making sure they counted the sale.

“That’ll be $2.30” The girl dug through her purse and pulled out her wallet, swiping her credit card in the machine. Isabella bagged the socks and waited until the girl signed her name. The machine acted incredibly slowly, which gave her a chance to talk to the girl a little.

“You know, I don’t think these socks would fit you. They’re a little small.” She joked.

“Ha-ha-ha, they’re not for me, dumbass.” The girl scoffed. “I got them for my sister’s birthday.”

“You got her socks?” she raised an eyebrow in scrutiny.

“She’s only 4. It’s not like she’ll remember.”

“Good point. By the way, do you happen to have the time?” Isabella waited for her to check her phone for the time.

“It’s a quarter to 6” the girl answered.

“Does that mean I have time to get your number?” the Latina smiled playfully. The girl glanced up with an eyebrow raised, silent for a moment.

“You’re very forward, you know that?”

“At least I’m not backwards.” She giggled. The girl cracked a smile.

“That’s a matter of debate, _Isabella_.” She read her nametag slowly.

“Do I at least get to know your name?” Isabella asked while the girl gathered her things, pouting.

“It’s Chiara, now put your tongue back in your mouth.” She rolled her eyes, but smiled just a little and walked out of the store. Isabella watched her go with a smile. ‘Chiara’. A pretty name for a pretty lady.

**_x-x-x_ **

On Monday, Isabella was still thinking about Chiara. She still could not place where she had seen the girl before she came into the store, but now the image of Chiara was still fresh on her mind and it drove her crazy. She asked her friends whether or not they knew a girl like that, but they all said they have never heard a name like that before.

At school, it was hard to concentrate. Isabella was busy looking forward to going to work, in hope that Chiara will pop by and see her. Her friends were sure that she won’t see the girl again, but Isabella was confident that Chiara also felt that connection between them.

_“She will come to see me again. I know it!”_ Isabella thought to herself. In her science class, the teacher was assigning different lab partners to mix around work ethic or something like that. Isabella was too distracted to pay attention as to who she was paired with, but after a moment of sitting through the lecture, she saw a pair of fingers snap in front of her face.

“Oy, Isabella!” She blinked and looked to see who was sitting beside her. It was Chiara, looking at her in annoyance.

“Oh! Chiara! Hi! What are you doing in my science class?” Isabella asked, beaming at the beautiful girl beside her. Chiara stared at her like she was insane.

“I’ve been going to this school and attending this science class for about a week now.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, but I knew I recognized you from somewhere!” Isabella couldn’t help but lean over to hug the girl. Chiara stiffened and gently but firmly pushed Isabella away.

“Personal space there, ‘bella.”

“Excuse you, _you’re_ the beauty here.” Isabella joked. Chiara rolled her eyes.

“You’re such a fucking dweeb, you know that? Just stop talking and let’s get to work.”

“Okay. Maybe I can text you instead, then?” Isabella smiled hopefully. Chiara snorted out a small laugh and shook her head. The rest of the day was mostly a lot of back and forth in that way, along with scolding from the teacher for not paying attention. When the bell rang, they walked out of class together.

“So, did your sister like the socks?”

“Oh yeah, she went fucking crazy over them. I guess she really likes rainbow animals.”

“Maybe, but you’re the only true rainbow in her life.”

“Oh my god, shut the fuck up, please.” Chiara smacked Isabella in the shoulder but she was smiling and blushing from the flattery Isabella was pouring on her. Before they parted ways for class, Chiara handed Isabella a slip of paper and left. When Isabella opened it, there was her name and a phone number below it.

She smiled blissfully and went into her next class. She immediately put the number into her cell phone and began texting Chiara under the desk. She didn’t bother with the corny comments and they actually managed to have a nice long conversation before Isabella got caught and was told to put away her phone. She sat in English class and listened to the teacher talk about the faux love story of Romeo and Juliet and how there was no such thing as real love at first sight.

Isabella agreed with her, because it takes one look to notice and two to get them in your head. Only then is it truly love.


End file.
